Round 4 Feature Match Christian Valenti vs Conner Russell

Christian Valenti vs Conner Russell
Christian won the dice roll and chose to draw, after both players kept their hands Conner began with Swamp, Island, Leaden Myr while Christian had Swamp, Forest, Plague Stinger. Conner used the Myr and played Trigon of Corruption on his third turn while Christian attacked with the Stinger and played another Stinger, clearly setting up an infectious deck.

Tumble Magnet from Conner looked to slow down the attacks as it and the Trigon allowed Conner to start to take control of the game. On Conner’s turn he added Livewire Lash to the field and killed the 2nd stinger with Trigon when Christian attacked. Christian added a Copper Myr, which was killed on Conner’s next turn as he wanted to clear the board and attack with the newly equipped Myr. Christian had an answer this time with Grasp of Darkness and killed the Myr.

Both players drew and played lands for a couple of turns with Conner adding counters to the Trigon. Finally Conner played Bleak Coven Vampires and used the Metalcraft ability to drain 3 life from Christian getting his first damage. The vampires were equipped and attacked as Christian continued to draw more lands. After Conner played two more creatures on his turn Christian conceded having a handful of land and no substantial plays.

In this match we saw two new abilities from Scars of Mirrodin. First off is Infect, which states a creature with infect deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and deals damage to players in the form of Venom counters. This has allowed for many interesting games over the weekend as players can die quickly from Poison, needing only 10 poison counters to lose the game. The second effect is Metalcraft, which is an ability of cards in this set that get an effect when you control 3 or more artifacts. Metalcraft takes many forms in this set, sometimes being a static effect while other times it could generate a triggered ability, as we saw with the vampires.

Christian again chose to draw first after using the opportunity to sideboard into a new deck changing Red and Green for Blue. He didn’t like his opening seven cards and took a chance on his six cards via the mulligan rule. That hand was better and both players played lands as Christian again brought out the Stinger on turn 2.

Conner played Morlok Replica, as Christian exploded with Ironclaw Myr and Vedalken Certarch. He chanted “No Trigon, No Trigon, No Trigon” as the gods answered him with a Trigon from Conner. After attacking with his team Conner played Tumble Magnet again and killed the Myr, locking down the Stinger on Christian’s turn. Christian played Kuldoth Forgemaster and finished his turn.

The Vampires have been hot of late and again they hit the field draining 4 life points from Christian as Conner continued to grow his board. The Magnet locked out the stinger and Christian had no good attacks. Skinrender hit the field and gave the Forgemaster three -1/-1 counters. Conner then sent the vampire and the myr into the red zone knocking six more life off of Christian’s total.

Christian tapped six mana and played Volition Reins and chose to target the Vampires giving him a healthy blocker. Conner killed the Stinger with his Trigon at end of turn, and then attacked with the Skinrender on his turn which traded with his traitorous vampire. Conner finished his turn by adding Tower of Calamities and Necrogen Scudder to the Battlefield. Meanwhile Christian played Palladium Myr and saw his life drop 3 more to the Scudder.

Christian used his Certarch to tap the Scudder after he played Soliton which would activate the Metalcraft from the Certarch. At the end of turn Conner played Grasp of Darkness on the Soliton and Christian used the effect of the Forgemaster to sacrifice three artifacts, but having no good targets he conceded.

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About this article

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• author: Donnie
• date: 09/25/10
• time: 4:30pm
• comments: 0

General, Magic The Gathering, Limited - Sealed Deck